


5 Times Kara Wanted Cat's Attention and 1 Time She Got It

by lishesque



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Boss/Employee Relationship, F/F, Kara is not as subtle as she thinks, One-Sided Or Is It?, Pre-Relationship, Slow Build, excellent uses of Cat's couch, possessive Cat, unzip me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-11 22:27:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9037418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lishesque/pseuds/lishesque
Summary: Prompt: "Kara has just started working for Cat, and uses everything in her arsenal to get Cat to notice her."Jealous, perfectionist, submissive Kara. Distracted, controlled, demanding Cat.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [superfluouskeys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/superfluouskeys/gifts).



> Thank you once again to my editor kara-lesbihonest. You make me a better writer.

1.

It starts with coffee. Three weeks into Kara’s employment as Cat Grant’s personal assistant, when she’s finally figured out how to deliver the perfect skim latte into Cat’s expectantly waiting hand, Kara realises her favourite part of the morning is hearing that barely-audible sigh escape from Cat’s lips. She likes watching Cat’s brow smooth over as her irritation with the morning seeps away with each sip of her coffee. She’s distracted by the way Cat’s fingers curl around the extra large cup, and catches herself imagining those fingers curling around other things in a grip that’s just as firm.

She wants to show Cat that the qualities listed on her resume are not just an empty boast. Her attention to detail, for example, has always been one of her best traits and she begins with giving perfect attention to Cat, starting with her coffee order.

The first week Kara just watches and takes mental notes on Cat’s various moods, the micro-expressions that cross her face when she takes that first sip, notes the flutter of Cat’s eyelashes as she savours the smell or catches the small wrinkle of her nose when the coffee doesn’t meet her exacting standards. 

The second week, though, is a dangerous dance. Kara begins to experiment, to tweak things this way and that, noting Cat’s reactions — sometimes subtle, often dramatic — when she alters the temperature slightly, or hand-stirs the latte on the way to the office. Of course, she never goes as far as to add cream or sugar. But the one time she dares to add an extra shot of espresso after a particularly grueling work event the night before, she’s rewarded by Cat looking at her, really looking: narrowed eyes, lips pursed not in disapproval but assessment, with the slightest dip of her head, as if to say _yes, you’ll do._

Kara spends the third week trying, in vain, to recreate that look in Cat’s eyes. She refines and polishes every aspect of the coffee order, right down to personally selecting and waiting for the best barista until she _knows_ that Cat’s morning coffee could not possibly be any better. But Cat is relentlessly dismissive and brutally casual, and Kara finally understands one morning that she’s never going to hear a ‘thank you’ from Cat Grant. Still, listening to that sigh and watching those fingers every morning, Kara is learning to be okay with that.

2.

It’s not jealousy when she sees Cat’s attention on other people. Not exactly. It’s just that she knows she could do better. She wants to prove to Cat just how good she can be. So even though it feels a little bit like cheating, even though Kara feels like it’s almost indelicate, she finds herself secretly using her powers to meet all of Cat’s needs, whatever they may be. 

What Kara wants is to be the best assistant Cat Grant has ever had. Here at last is someone utterly uncompromising who the girl of steel wants to bend for, and she spends months using her super speed, sight, hearing, her considerable endurance and stamina, moulding herself to fit the role. Kara is first at the office and often the last to leave. More than once, she speed walks five blocks to Cat’s favourite green grocer to replace the wilted lettuce in Cat’s salad when Cat works through lunch and forgets to eat. Kara is ruthless in fielding calls and cancelling appointments when they have the potential to cut into Carter time. 

She remembers a time early in her CatCo career when Cat’s new desk first arrived. It was early and Kara had let the workmen into Cat’s office. Afterward, she’d noticed that one of the screws near the bottom drawer was loose. Hardly dangerous, but potentially irksome. If she’d seen it, then surely Cat would too — those restless eyes never failed to demand perfection wherever they landed. So Kara had gotten down on her hands and knees and used a combination of her heat vision and the strength of her fingers to fix the loose screw. She was so intent on her work that she didn’t see Cat walk through the office door until she heard her voice from the other side of the desk. It was drawing nearer.

“Ah, Kiera, my desk appears to have been delivered and placed by a colony of blind mice. While you’re under there, be a dear and rotate the desk two degrees to the left, will you?”

Kara had obliged and quickly scrambled to her feet as Cat rounded the corner of her desk. Cat had barely looked at her as she breezed past to sit back on the brown leather arm chair behind the new furniture. 

In a way, it didn’t matter if Cat knew she had fixed the loose screw, or whether Cat saw her flushed cheeks and the way Kara self-consciously smoothed down her skirt as she walked away. Making things perfect for Cat was its own kind of reward.

3.

For as long as Kara has been on earth, her primary focus has been on blending in, being in the background, on _not_ being noticed. But now, for the first time — and she can hardly believe this herself — she wants to be on centre stage for someone. Even though Cat’s brilliant attention makes her want to hide, to shrink back into the safe, dim shadows of the rank and file, she still finds herself craving it. None of it makes any sense. All she knows is that the first time Cat really looked at her, it felt like dynamite detonating against her ribcage.

Alex doesn’t understand, and Kara doesn’t even begin to try to explain to Winn why it matters so much what Cat Grant thinks. Neither of them are much help in picking out new clothes for her wardrobe. 

When Cat comes back from her lunch date with Idris Elba flushed, slightly tipsy, and more expansive than usual, Kara doesn’t ask for details. She stops herself from asking if there will be a dinner date or any other kind of date, because what business is it of hers who her boss chooses to spend time with? 

But it’s different when Cat starts spending time with Kelly. Kelly, a willowy blonde formerly from the CatCo Art Department who now runs her own moderately successful Etsy shop. It’s the mediocrity that grates the most, Kara thinks, as she tries to rationalise the surge of petty jealousy that rises up whenever Kelly shows up at Cat’s office. Why else would it bother her to see Cat’s eyes linger on Kelly’s hips as she walks away?

Kara tries not to think too much about why she goes home that day and blows two weeks’ rent on an excessive and unnecessary clothing order from J.Crew. The next day, perfect coffee in hand, she’s wearing a form-fitting tie-neck dress when she stands to greet her boss as she emerges from her private elevator. Cat pauses just a moment longer than usual when she takes the cup from Kara’s hand. 

Kara’s not disappointed about the fact that, all day, Cat’s eyes never once stray to the black ribbon at her throat. Of course she isn’t.

4.

And then there are times like this, when Cat’s attention is hard to bear, and yet Kara wants it all the same. Cat’s furious and nobody quite knows why. It’s been a slow news week but CatCo shares are up and Lois Lane has just canceled her appearance at a prestigious fundraising event due to an unfortunate toenail infection. Kara, who’s seen the crumpled ink-stained letter in Cat’s trashcan, suspects that it’s something personal.

“Why are you here, Kiera?” Cat snaps at Kara, the only one who dares approach her. It’s early afternoon and Cat’s been pacing around her office all day, fueled by several shots of bourbon and a restless, crackling energy.

“I’ve brought you lunch, Miss Grant.”

Cat stalks up to Kara, her stare fixed on Kara’s face. “No Kiera, why are _you_ here.”

There’s a small silence as Kara wonders how best to answer, how to balance the raw honesty in her chest with not getting fired. “Because… you hired me.” She sees Cat’s face, already opaque, close off even more. Kara takes a breath and adds, “Because, even though I’m just your assistant… I care. I don’t want to see you upset, or hurt. I want to help. If I can.”

It surprises Kara when Cat’s the one who looks away first, but she’s not fast enough that Kara doesn’t catch… _something_ in her expression first. It’s part exasperation, part fondness, and part some kind of melting.

Cat holds out her hand limply. “Well?”

“Uh, Miss Grant?”

“My _lunch_ , Kiera.” 

Kara hands over the lettuce wrap, which Cat sniffs disdainfully and promptly deposits in the trash can near her desk. “Go get me another one, and make sure it’s fresh this time.”

Gratefully acquiescent, Kara can’t help but smile as she says “Right away, Miss Grant.”

5.

Fifteen minutes before they’re due to leave for the CatCo Christmas party, Cat spills a drink on herself, ruining the ivory and black dogtooth check mini by Alexander McQueen which had probably cost several times Kara’s monthly salary. She calls Kara over and asks if she can find an appropriate replacement in ten minutes. Short of revealing her powers, there’s no way Kara can.

Cat is tense and frustrated, angry at herself for spilling the damn drink. So Kara does the only thing that feels right in that moment.

“Please, take mine.” And then she’s stepping out of her shoes, unzipping the back of her own dress: a ridiculously short red, pleated mini dress, that comes barely half-way down her thighs but will probably reach Cat’s knees modestly. She tugs the dress down over her shoulders and steps out of it, leaving herself in only her undergarments.

“Fluorescent Calvin Klein underwear. How very… you.” 

Kara’s eyes are lowered so she only hears the scornful tone and doesn’t see the covetous, roaming gaze.

But Kara doesn’t flinch or waver; she just takes Cat’s comments and holds out the dress before her in a way that’s both perfectly innocent and relentlessly shameless.

The soft material slides out of Kara’s hand as Cat comes forward to take it. “Really, Kiera. Kate Spade?” Cat doesn’t wait for an answer. “Unzip me,” she says, and Kara obediently complies. 

Cat pauses for a moment, then says “I’m going to change in my bathroom. You can sit and wait on the couch. That will provide some cover should anyone come up to this floor after hours.”

Ten minutes later, Cat departs for the party, leaving Kara waiting unclothed and alone in the empty office.

 

(+1)

When Cat comes back many hours later, Kara is curled up asleep on the edge of the couch. She looks peaceful and vulnerable lying there in the low light. The soft glow of a nearby lamp illuminates a halo around Kara’s hair, makes it shine even more impossibly golden. A fondness swells in Cat’s chest and, before she can stop herself, she’s reaching out her hand. There’s a strand that’s fallen loose across Kara’s face which Cat tucks behind her ear. 

Cat watches quietly as Kara’s eyes blink open and her gaze focuses on Cat. Cat is sitting on the edge of the coffee table, her hand still in Kara’s hair. A thumb grazes across Kara’s cheekbone, making her breath catch.

“So, Kiera. You’re still here,” Cat says. It’s unlike her to state the obvious, Kara thinks. But then it’s also unlike Cat to be sitting this close to her head with her palm still lightly cupping her jaw, fingers warm against her neck.

“You… didn’t say I could go,” Kara ventures, then hesitates. She bites her lip. “And… and I wanted to wait. In case you came back.”

It’s an admission, Cat recognises. Of what, neither of them are certain. 

For a moment, there’s nothing but soft breathing and the too-close space between them. Cat’s gazing at Kara, still only in her underwear, lying horizontally on her couch. Kara watches Cat look at her, sees the naked desire in her eyes. For Kara, who knows all about quantum physics and and the relativity of time, it feels like this moment could stretch to fill an infinite sky.

All of a sudden, Cat is standing, walking away. Kara feels emptiness seize her chest but, thank Rao, only for a second because Cat is returning again with a heavy, expensive-looking coat in her arms. “Let’s get you home,” she says. “And put this on. I don’t want people ogling my assistant.”

Kara is warmed by the way Cat says ‘my assistant’ as much as the luxurious coat that’s wrapped around her shoulders. She hurries to catch up to Cat who’s already walking toward her private elevator, not turning to check on Kara. 

They both already know that Kara will follow.


End file.
